In fact many companies have intentionally done this kind of thing. It's called a submarine patent.
You patent something quietly and submit it to a standards board. When lots of people are using it then you spring your patent on them and start collecting.
The JPEG patent was one such case.
As I understand, there is no time limit on a patent that is hidden. Once a company reveals that they hold a patent, however, then they must defend it or lose it. That happend to Xerox and a number of their computer and video recorder patents. IBM as well.