Does no one see the implications for patents?

Reading the articles you posted doesn't give me the same readings. Letters patent (the 1st one), which still exist, are not the same as patents (although the latter evolved from the former). And your second link says

'The statute repealed all past and future patents and monopolies, except those created in the future over completely novel inventions.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"'

In other words, it created the modern patent system. For the US, the governing law, is Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 - and it's clear that the patents are a limited monopoly in exchange for publication of information:

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"