The heirs of Elvis Presley have won a tactical court case in Germany, where they are campaigning to claw back lost royalties for radio replays of the King of Rock's greatest hits.
A Munich appeal court on Thursday ordered a company controlled by Sony to disclose how many times the songs had been played in Germany since April 2008.
Europe's most populous nation and its "golden oldie" stations are still in love with Elvis, who died in 1977.
The ruling raises the odds that Elvis Presley Enterprises, which has the King's daughter Lisa-Marie Presley as a 15-per-cent shareholder, can circumvent a 1973 contract in which he sold many of his future royalties for a lump sum to RCA Records, now part of Sony.
The heirs are appealing a decision against them in a lower German court.
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Appeal judges ruled that 3.34 million euros ($A4.78 million) are at stake in the case. They set no date for their final decision on the merits of the claim.
