Question: Thomas filed a nonprovisional utility patent application in the USPTO on February 8, 2001. The  application as filed included a specification and claims in compliance with 35 U.S.C. §112,  three sheets of publication quality drawings, an abstract of the disclosure, and an application data  sheet listing the name and address of the inventor. The application was initially filed without an executed inventor's oath or declaration and without the required filing fee. The Office issued a "Notice to File Missing Parts ...?Filing Date Granted" on April 2, 2001. The Notice informed Thomas that he must submit an executed oath or declaration by the inventor, pay the required filing fee, and pay a surcharge for late submission of these items within two (2) months of the date of the Notice. Thomas received the Notice on April 9, 2001. Thomas was occupied with other matters and did not file a reply in full compliance with the Notice until September 3, 2001. A Petition for a three-month extension of time and all required fees accompanied the reply. A first substantive Office action on the merits of the application issued January 21, 2002 and set a three-month shortened statutory time period for reply. All pending claims were rejected on the basis of prior art. Thomas filed a fully responsive Amendment on April 15, 2002, and a final Office action issued September 12, 2002 with a three-month shortened statutory period for reply.  The final Office Action allowed certain claims and rejected other claims on substantially the same grounds set forth in the first Office action. Thomas filed a Notice of Appeal on October 21, 2002 and an Appeal Brief on April 18, 2003. A Petition for extension of time and proper authorization to charge a deposit account for any required fees accompanied the Appeal Brief. An Examiner's Answer issued on May 2, 2003, and Thomas filed a Reply Brief on May 15, 2003. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences affirmed the Examiner's rejections on September 17, 2003. With regard to the allowed claims, a Notice of Allowance and Issue Fee Due was mailed October 3, 2003. Thomas paid the Issue Fee on October 20, 2003 and the patent issued March 23, 2004. The Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office determined that Thomas failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application from January 21, 2003 to April 18, 2003. Which of the following statements is most true?
A. Thomas is entitled to no patent term adjustment because the Patent Term Guarantee Act of 1999 does not apply to Thomas' patent application.
B. Although the Patent Term Guarantee Act of 1999 applies to Thomas' application, Thomas forfeited any patent term adjustment by failing to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application from January 21, 2003 to April 18, 2003.
C. Thomas is entitled to a patent term adjustment of approximately two (2) months because the application was pending for more than three (3) years.
D. By responding to the Notice to File Missing Parts approximately three (3) months after the deadline set by the USPTO, Thomas reduced any patent term adjustment by approximately three (3) months.
(category: patent, Chinese translation: 专利)