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> Netflix. Not only it stole my bought app from me

Wow I didn't know this is possible / legal.

How is this possible? Are google plays "purchases" just rental agreements in disguise?

Yes. “Purchase” of any “intellectual property” is essentially a marketing trick that we have come to accept. (Note that when you purchase my physical property, it is now your property. If you purchase my “intellectual property”, it’s almost certainly still my property, you just have some license to it. Which license precisely? Well, read this 50-page EULA.) The closest you can get is a DRM-free copy that you can back up yourself.

In this case, though, I assume that your original World of Goo would still work if you had kept it on your phone (and maybe prevented it from being updated automatically?). It’s “just” that it is no longer available for re-download.

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