In litigation with George Orthey, it was held that Oscar Schmidt could only claim ownership of the stylized lettering of the word autoharp, the term itself having moved into general usage.
George Ortheyとの訴訟において、Oscar Schmidtは単語Autoharpの様式化されたレタリングの所有権の主張のみが可能で、名称自体は一般名称へ移行した。