8. 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:
That's the authority for the patent office.
That only gives the federal government the authority to grant patents and copyrights. It was really a rhetorical question...because there is no authority.
Oh well...I guess we are long past the time when the federal government recognized any Constitutional limits on its powers...I just wish the President and every congressman would stop the charade and refuse to take the oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.