Could you live without your BlackBerry?

The San Jose Mercury reports:

As a reader service, we'd like to offer professional help to those of you contemplating the catastrophic loss of a longtime companion: the BlackBerry.

A patent dispute between NTP and Research In Motion could force RIM to shut down its BlackBerry service in the United States.

NTP, a Virginia company that holds patents for wireless e-mail, last week rejected a settlement offer from RIM, raising the specter of 3.65 million BlackBerrys going dark.

A Virginia federal judge who is overseeing the case could soon decide whether to enforce an injunction that would effectively shut down BlackBerry service in the United States. RIM, meanwhile, says it has developed a technical work-around that will keep e-mails running.

But the mere prospect of losing messaging service -- even temporarily -- has created the kind of unease not seen in Silicon Valley since the dot-com bubble burst.