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SAN FRANCISCO — Napster, still stinging from the forced shutdown of its song-swap service last July, enjoyed a small legal victory as a federal judge ordered record labels to produce documents and prove copyright ownership of songs from Elvis Presley, the Beatles and other top artists. 

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel appointed an expert to review documents the record labels must turn over to show they own the rights to more than 200 “works for hire” — music commissioned by labels and performed by artists under contract. 

Napster had argued that the court must first determine if the music industry actually owns the rights to the works allegedly infringed if the Redwood City-based company is to be held liable for damages for allowing the songs to be traded through its online network. 

“We are pleased that the court granted Napster’s request to examine two critical issues: the record companies’ ownership of artists’ copyrights and anticompetitive behavior that amounts to misuse of their copyrights,” Napster general counsel Jonathan Schwartz said in a statement. 

Major record labels sued Napster in 1999 for copyright infringement. 

Napster admits the record labels that sued the Redwood City-based company in 1999 control 85 percent of all music sales. Patel agreed the labels have likely secured ownership of the songs at issue. 

“However, the court is equally reticent to allow plaintiffs, merely because of the quantity of music they control, to railroad Napster into potentially billions of dollars in statutory damages without adequately proving ownership,” Patel said in her order made public Friday. 

The judge also opened the door to legal discovery on Napster’s claims that the labels misused their copyrights to dominate the growing online music distribution industry.