The U.S. government has inserted itself in a high-stakes patent fight over the popular BlackBerry device, saying it wants to make sure federal workers won’t be cut off from mobile access to their e-mail.

The Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” earlier this week to explain how the U.S. government, with as many as 200,000 BlackBerry users, could be harmed if a federal judge in Virginia issues an injunction against Research In Motion Ltd. to stop selling the device and accompanying e-mail service.

If the judge issues an injunction, “it is imperative that some mechanism be incorporated that permits continuity of the federal government’s use of BlackBerry devices,” the filing said.

Source: AP