Lodium: Removing something from the store is not the same as removing something from custommers.
Im still waiting for proof and not just hearsay.
It woud also be really easy to win in court since i imagine those laws are the same in Poland.
Heck, il even chip in in donation drive on kickstarter or something if somone in Poland can organize a group sue againt Gog if this claim can be proven.
By proof i mean a screenshot of a blue post/notification or any other proof which is Not Photoshopped or in any other form tried to fake
Geralt_of_Rivia: That is actually a documented fact. To understand how that came to be requires understanding 1) how GOG works when it comes to older games and 2) how game translations were done in the past.
1) First GOG tracks down who holds the rights to the game and get them to sign a contract that states that GOG is allowed to modify the game to make it run better on modern systems and sell the game in exchange for typically 30% of the selling price.
Normally they receive everything they put up for download from the rightsholder but for old games they often hear that the publisher doesn't have any copies of the game or goodies, handbooks, etc. left and GOG has to track down an old copy with all its goodies on their own. They usually do so through EBay or sometimes even with the help of customers who send them scanned manuals, etc.
And that's where GOG made an error. They thought that their contract for JA 2 encompassed all language versions but it didn't.
2) Today publishers try to keep all rights to themselves and spread them around as little as possible but in the past that wasn't the case. Especially when it came to foreign language versions when the publisher wasn't sure that they would pay off they simply looked for a business partner to carry the risk.
The deal basically worked like this: The exclusive rights to produce a German version would be transfered to company X in exchange for a cut on the profits. All the work on translating the game, the manual, producing the discs, boxes and manuals and bringing them to stores in the German speaking market would be done by X.
If the game sells well both of them, X and the publisher of the original, make good money. If the game flops X carries all the risk, the original publisher loses nothing. Well, except for the rights to the German version but if the game doesn't sell well in the German market they weren't worth anything anyway. Sure, the original publisher could have made more money by doing everything themselves if the game sells well but then they would also carry the risks.
Since in the past the computer game market wasn't as big as today such arrangements were more widely made than you would imagine. And that lead to the fact that the holder to the rights of the original (typically the English) version did not have the rights to the German version.
GOG was unaware of the fact that the partner they contracted with for JA2 did not have the right to the German version when they put up the German manual for download. The German manual was actually online for quite some time before company X saw that GOG was using their manual without their OK and DMCA'd GOG to take it down.
And there is no way to win in court against GOG for that. Taking the manual down was a legal requirement. In theory even all customers who still have a copy have to delete it because GOG never had the right to put it up for download in the first place. But that is of course impossible to enforce.
Even if you write to GOG support that you really need the German manual and can't play the game without it and you wouldn't have bought the game without the German manual they can't give you the manual. That's how copyright law works. You can't sue for getting the manual back. GOG can't give you what they do not own. The only thing you could in theory sue for is a recompensation. In other words, the difference in value between the product with or without manual.
But that will also not work because in such cases (if the manual was really THAT important to you) GOG typically offers you your money back even if the game was bought long ago. That basically is a recompensation. Even a full one. Then it's your choice to either accept (you get your money back, the game will be removed from your account and GOG doesn't owe you the manual any more) or refuse. But if you refuse you also can't sue for recompensation any more. Your case would get thrown right out of the court if GOG shows the judge the mails in which you were offered your money back and you refused.
Also, this really isn't the first time such a thing happened. I don't remember every single case (although I know there were a few) but I still remember how the dev of Vertical Drop Heroes HD has removed the Halloween update from GOG. First he integrated it into the game with an update and removed the DLC, later he removed the content from the game again without giving the DLC back. So if you bought the game when it was offered toogether with the DLC with you were out of the DLC's content. While in this case it's not such a big deal (the DLC was only a Halloween themed reskin of the game) it's still a matter of principle. I think GOG shouldn't have allowed the dev to get through with such shenanigans. While strictly speaking this wasn't GOG's fault they did allow the dev to get through with this.
Edit: I forgot you asked for a link with proof. Here you are:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_removed_materials_from_users_library_gog_what_happened/post9 correction
You see money was exchanged
it does not matter if Gog did a mistake or not
The moment the custommer bougth the product
thats the moment were gog and the custommer signed a binding contract.
You cant just backpedal on a contract withouth compensating the custommer
in some way.
Unless were speaking of force majure, but the content removed wasnt removed under force majure conditions.
Unless somone is not telling the whole truth here that they did recive some compensation, money back or something else or that gog offered something like that for those that asked
gog has clearly broken the law here.
I do suspect that some user did indeed forgot to tell the whole truth
because it seams from the explanation above that the custommers that were affected that asked for it did indeed recive some compensation or was offered some compensation.
Meaning the complaint longer up was unwarranted and baseless.
And Yes Gog has no obligation to provide Prevoius owners with the German Manual if you rather have that even if you feel entitled to it.
They cant force you to take a compensation that you dont want and you are not entitled to get a speccific thing you want.
Youre either entitled to a refund or something else, youre not entitled to the German Manual.
Thanks for telling the truth.
Good thing we have etablished the claim was baseless and unwarranted.
Edit :
The manual in German isnt important to me personally but its the principle with the exchange of money for an item/merchandise that is important to me
Allthough its not a physical item im not accepting wild west practices.
If Gog has started to become scammers even though its not their fault and its a third party that had the rigths il stop shopping here out of principle
and if i discover some of the games i own suddenly lack content that i paid the full store price for withouth getting something in return
then someday when i can afford it il take gog to court.
Not Joking