Unless Activision provided the game 'as is'. If they were responsible for the crack being used then GOG could effectively wash their hands of the matter without confirming or denying that the crack was used.

Let's just hope this issue doesn't turn out with GOG losing Activision games...

Where is the problem anyway? Is FaiRliGHT suing Activision or GOG for using their version. No?
It the game working? Yes? Fine. Is it DRM-free? Cool! Job done, nice addition.

Thankfully that would only be likely if GOG applied the crack themselves without consulting Activision. Given the amount of work GOG put into the titles they release, coupled with the amount of time they spent fostering a relationship with Actvision I find that highly unlikely. Especially given that they didn't rush a load of titles out all at once, but instead kept to their usual pace.

Come on people, stop with the cross-site bashing. So there are some kids that don't like paying for games. Who cares. And who cares if it is warez crack or not - it is a legitimate license and it is not like Fairlight could sue or anything anyway.
And any real rpg gamer goes to RPG Watch for his rpg news anyway : ).

Wow - I have been RPGing since Wizardry I and have never been to RPG Watch.

One of the most important laws in teh intarwebz.

what's an rpg watch?

http://www.rpgwatch.com

Who cares if they used a warez crack? Logically speaking here if it works then the fix is as good as any so a bunch of kids crying about it being evil makes no sense. Of course this is RPGcodex so they are probably looking for a reason to complain and bash something but just saying here, when people lash out at using cracks to fix a game it is as stupid as lashing out at Dosbox.

You know, in my previous slap of the...'people'...over there, I completely missed the sheer entertainment value from reading that thread.
Apparently, GOG getting distribution rights for a game to sell it legally is them stealing the game, whereas Abandonware is perfectly cool.
Oh, and GOG should have credited the makers of an illegal crack...yeah. And selling an illegal crack is illegal, because they're profiting from the work of the crackers.
It's like 'The Land that Evolution Forgot' over there. How many of them have lived this long without somehow dying in some sort of wacky vacuum related accident is beyond me.

What is absurd to me is they can claim a foul without having to prove it. I posted that picture as a spoof of the "image" they posted. Take any exe file, copy it, rename it, do a compare and . . . "You copied my work waaaaaa".
It's really open season on any game sold here as they can make the claim with outrage but . . . they won't ever have to come out of the shadows to prove it. I expect them to make similar claims every now and again just to pump up their egos . . why not . . . they don't REALLY have to prove it . . just make the claim and bask in the perceived "glory".
Edit: added "perceived" . . .=)

One of the boxed RPG collections had in the manual something like this: "The original game was copy-protected but, thanks to nice people on the Internet, we are able to provide you with an unprotected copy." Unfortunately, I can't remember which collection had that but if I do, I should post an exact text of that paragraph.
This situation is nearly unavoidable with older games. The devteam may be gone, the developer and the original publisher may not even exist anymore. In many cases, the source code is completely lost. It may be hard to believe, but in the most extreme cases even the right holders don't have any real copies. That may also explain some inconsistencies with extra material here on GOG. At least in one case a publisher supplied GOG with a manual taken from replacementdocs, even with the logo (that manual got replaced later). Even if that game originally sold hundreds of thousands copies I would not be surprised if the publisher did not have a single copy left for scanning at the time they needed it.

One is legally allowed to alter a game in any way if it can't be used properly in it's current form, but all the modifications belong to the copyright holder and you aren't allowed to distribute the game itself without the copyright holder's permission. In other words, legal to make cracks, illegal to distribute the game without licensing, don't have to give credit to the crackers if you are licensed.