They probably don't want to give Motorola a Nexus, at least this year, so the OEM's don't get scared and push Windows Phone harder or something. It will probably happen in a few years, but not yet.
Also, Motorola needs to make more worldwide phones. Samsung made the Galaxy S and S II, which earned then the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus. LG made the Optimus G, which earned them the Nexus 4. I don't think Moto released the RAZR HD outside of Canada (and the CDMA Droid version in the US, of course).
There's a huge firewall between Google and Motorola still, otherwise no other manufacturer would ever trust Google with proprietary/confidential information.
Google bought Motorola for their patents, not for their technology.
You really bought that? Did you miss the "Welcome to the new Motorola" line they dropped when they announced the Droid RAZR M, HD, and MAXX HD? Did you notice how much closer their new skin/UX is to stock ICS than before? This is about more than patents, my friend.
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