 Crucially , this rendered all past , present and future patents and monopolies null and void . Patents were normally divided into three categories ; patents for a particular invention , patents exempting a patent @-@ holder from legislation , and patents for a particular trade or industry . Section 1 , however , for the first time discussed a new category of patents ; those " of Power , Liberty or Faculty " . These patents were normally used in relation to penal laws , to " farm out " the business of administering to criminals and dispensing justice to private companies and individuals . The statute , in a break from previous law , emphasised that this power lay only within Parliament . Section 2 provided that all future patents granted should be determined by the common law , and not otherwise , while Section 3 emphasised that companies and individuals now or in the future in possession of patents should not be allowed to exercise them . Sections 4 and 5 provided that if anyone was interfered with 40 days after the Statute of Monopolies was passed due to a patent or monopoly , any goods seized or persons imprisoned would be returned to their owners and released respectively . 
