BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Windstream Corp. announced Monday that if ordered to do so by a court, it will release the identities of 10 users named anonymously in a federal lawsuit over illegally downloaded music.

    David Avery, spokesman for the Little Rock, Arkansas-based company, said the company will not release account information unless "compelled to do so by law" through a court subpoena. Avery said the company would release its data on the 10 users if subpoenaed.

    The companies, including Arista Records, Capitol Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Records Inc., alleged the 10 defendants committed copyright infringement using a file-sharing program to freely copy and distribute the music.

    The defendants, named in Tuesday's lawsuit as Does 1-10, also were identified by IP addresses and each recording artist and album title downloaded was listed. Typically, each individual computer when on the Internet broadcasts its own IP address when accessing other sites.

    The lawsuit said the defendants used Gnutella to copy the music, one of many peer-to-peer programs the record industry has been trying to shut down for years since successfully going after file-sharing giant Napster.

    The defendants all used Windstream's Internet service.

    The suit said as many as 5,476 copies were distributed illegally and asked that the court order those copies to be destroyed. Most of the music downloading and distribution was done in Arkansas, the suit said.

    Among the recording artists whose songs were copied, the suit said, were The Cars, Clint Black, Sinead O'Connor, Carman, 50 Cent, Limp Bizkit, Avril Lavigne, Enrique Iglesias, Spice Girls, Pink Floyd, Keb Mo, Sheryl Crow, Celine Dion, Kenny Chesney, and Puddle of Mudd.

    (Agencies)