Google will keep the "vast majority" of around 17,000 patents it acquired when it bought Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 billion.

Google's stock was up over 2% in after-hours trading shortly after the announcement.

Motorola has been running semi-independently from Google since the acquisition went through. Last year, Motorola released its first flagship phone, the Moto X, since becoming a Google company.