Here's what will happen: On Feb. 1, the much-ballyhooed court deadline, RIM and patent- holding company NTP Inc. will file legal paperwork. On Feb. 24, they'll argue before a judge over whether RIM must stop selling and providing services for BlackBerry users in the U.S., which the court already found infringes several patents owned by NTP.

The judge is likely to rule in NTP's favor. When? Maybe on Feb. 24, maybe later. After that, no sooner than 30 days after the ruling, RIM will have to stop using NTP's technology. That puts the earliest possible BlackBerry drop-dead date at March 26 -- just about eight weeks from now.

RIM is asking the court for more time. RIM also says it can sidestep NTP's patents with a software patch that users will have to apply before the drop-dead date. NTP may object that the patch still infringes its patents, but that will take another round of court hearings to decide. That pushes any total BlackBerry shutdown even further out.

Eventually, NTP's patents may be officially voided. But that won't happen until October, if at all, and NTP's appeals could run on for years. Much sooner than that, NTP and RIM will probably hash out a settlement, as they almost managed to do last year.

But for now, you've got at least eight weeks. That's no emergency. But it is an opportunity.