On October 8, 2013, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, acting on authority from the President, issued a statement declining Samsung’s Submission of August 28, 2013 seeking disapproval of a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order issued by the Commission in Certain Electronic Digital Media Devices And Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-796.  Apple’s ’949 “touch screen” patent and ’501 patent directed to a receptacle switch for plug detection, that provided the basis for the Commission’s remedial orders excluding certain Samsung smartphones, are not standard-essential patents subject to a FRAND commitment – the impetus behind the President’s recent disapproval of the Commission’s remedial orders in the 794 Investigation.  Nevertheless, Samsung requested disapproval of the remedial orders on the grounds, inter alia, that:  (i) “the patents cover small insignificant features of complex electronic devices” and “USTR has a strong policy interest in assuring that the scope of any remedial order is commensurate with the scope of the invention at issue”; and (ii) a Complainant should be subject to the same “causal nexus” standard and eBay factors applied by the U.S. District Courts.  However, USTR responded by stating that the Commission’s “order expressly states that these devices and any other Samsung electronic media devices incorporating the approved design-around technologies are not covered.  Thus, I do not believe that concerns with regard to enforcement related to the scope of the order, in this case, provide a policy basis for disapproving it.”