 The statute repealed some past and future patents and monopolies but preserved exceptions : one of these was for patents for novel inventions . Seen as a key moment in the evolution of patent law , the statute has also been described as " one of the landmarks in the transition of [ England 's ] economy from the feudal to the capitalist " . Even with the statute in force , it took over a century for a comprehensive legal doctrine around patents to come into existence , and James I 's successor Charles I regularly abused the patents system by ensuring that all cases relating to his actions were heard in conciliar courts , which he controlled . The English Civil War and the resulting English Restoration finally curtailed this system of abuse . The statute is still the basis for Australian law , and until the United Kingdom began following the European Patent Convention in 1977 , was also a strong pillar of the United Kingdom 's intellectual property law . 
