I have detected an abuse of GPLed software...

[Luca Mercuri]

Hi, all!

I've just struck myself into what looks like a blatant abuse of a piece
of 
GPLed software, and I'd like some advice as to how to deal with it.

I've just found the site of an Italian web agency/software house named 
BlueSoft (see <http://www.bluesoft.it/>).  They offer a CMS software
that 
they call WPS -- Web Portal System.  This software is, in effect, the 
well-known PHPNuke program, as anyone can see from their online demo 
(located at <http://www.bluesoft.it/swdemo/wps/>) and their technical 
support pages (located at <http://www.bluesoft.it/bst/>).

The folks at BlueSoft have just taken PHPNuke, with its default skin, 
renamed it, and changed its copyright notice, which now reads "Copyright

(c) 2001 by BST - BlueSoft Supporto Tecnico" or Copyright "(c) 2001 by
WPS 
- Web Portal System."  They retained the original META KEYWORDS and 
GENERATOR tags, although they otherwise deleted any reference to PHPNuke

and its status as a GPLed software.  To be true, though, nowhere in the 
site they directly claim that this "Web Portal System" was developed by
them.

I would like to know whether this is really an abuse, as I really
believe, 
and what steps I should better follow to bring it to an end.  Of course,
I 
thought about writing to them to inquire about the software they sell
(for 
example, with questions like:  did you develop it?  and may you quote
your 
price for it?), or directly and openly warn them that I think they're 
committing an abuse and ask them to cease.  I'd also like to make their 
infringment public by writing a letter to Italian IT news portals and
other
forums sensitive to free software matters and open to reader's posts.
Any advice as to how proceed would be greatly appreciated.

TIA,

Luca Mercuri & Tommaso R. Donnarumma