Nothing, but that doesn't mean it should be ok to pirate it.
They do have to put time and money into putting games back on their system. Yes, the game is developed, but it isn't just upload and go. When they officially say "We will no longer release any game released before 19XX/20XX" I will agree they are being pretty shutting down ROM sharing sites. Until then, they should protect the value of their games, and stopping openly sharing if those games is one of the ways to help do that.
I honestly don't understand how people think it is ok to openly share these games and are saying Nintendo should just stop trying to protect them.
They have no obligation to tell us what plans they have to release these games again, they own them. If an artist makes a limited number of prints, should it be ok to make copies and sell them, or give them away? No, that is the artists work and they didn't ok that, same thing here.
What is a "fair" price, something that isn't laughable? $5 is too much, so what, everything should be $4? $3? Saying $5 or $7 is laughable, while also saying they should be available all the time really makes it seem like people just want to be able to play them for free and are justifying it by saying they aren't available.
And there shouldn't be a use it or lose it clause, the laws should have been 50 years max. No reason they should have been extended to 75 years (thanks Disney) and there is no reason they should be extended again. Also, the lack of being able to easily download a ROM does not mean that there is no preservation in the industry. There was a group of people that were attempting to get backups of every version of every SNES game, for preservation. Find a group and help them out.
When a piece of media is unavailable to be purchased and consumed in a reasonably convenient manner via regular legal means without paying out the nose for a used copy, which are in limited supply, the only alternative is, well, piracy. It may not be legally right, but saying "tough shit" sure isn't
fair. And "rightsholders" should be shit on as much as possible for, well, not doing something that is basically at this point fairly cheap to do nowadays. You don't beat piracy by trying to play wack-a-mole with it, you simply need to provide a better value proposition than the pirates - just look at how much the NES and SNES Minis are selling despite the arguably limited number of titles on both. Look at iTunes, Spotify and Netflix.
For an NES game, $5 is way too much for what is literally a old rom file, especially if the original developers aren't getting paid anymore. Sure, it would vary via platform, and harder to emulate systems would warrant a higher price due to the effort of getting them working, but systems like the NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. are long-solved problems as far as emulation goes. Honestly, a subscription service would be better suited for emulated titles is better than paying individually, and that sounds like what Nintendo is at least doing on a limited basis with the Switch Online, but as usual, the known selection is anaemic.
I would honestly argue 10-20 years is a better number in terms of balancing the needs of copyright holders and the public domain, the latter's flow has trickled to a crawl due to excessive copyright overreach. But I agree, over 50 years is beyond excessive. Copyight should be a limited-time protection, not a form of welfare for artists (though I'd also advocate a form of Universal Basic Income alongside such changes to make the livelihoods of artists more stable and less beholden to the whims of capitalism), and in the digital age, there is significantly more potential for fan-created works to legally flourish with a rework of copyright, tempered by simple economics preventing people from just flooding the market.
Yes, there are groups actively preserving old games, which is better than the actual "rightsholders" are doing, but the other half is access. Without legal access, nobody other than the very few actively preserving those works can actively appreciate them.
The unfotunate truth of copyright laws is that you have to defend your copyright or you lose it. It is the reason Nintendi has to shut down fan games, ROMS, etc.
Because if they don't it can be argued that they gave up the copyright and they lose it forever.
We already have a threas about the bullshit of the current copyright laws, but the truth is that Nintendo has to defend its IPs or risk losing the rights. It's wrong on many levels and it needs to change but it also is what is now.
Rather than defend ROM sites or fan games we shouls instead be petitioning to change the law so that ignoring these things doesn't lead to copyright lose.
Completely false. Copyright has no such mechanism, only trademarks require active legal defense. It's a common misconception, but a misconception all the same.