Brand owners, beware.

The .sucks top level domain name has been slow to take off, rendering its alleged “extortion” strategy wounded. But this might change next month.

.Sucks registry Vox Populi will begin a rebate program in January that will temporarily drop the wholesale price of .sucks domains to $1.99 ($19.99 for premiums). That’s a 99% rebate.

This is sure to stoke new .sucks registrations, including of popular brands. But brand holders would be wise to think twice before filing a UDRP on the names. The discounts only apply to first-year registrations, so cybersquatters will have to pay the regular (and prohibitive) prices when it comes time to renew a year later. I suspect most will let the domains drop unless there’s a renewal promotion a year from now.

Vox Populi says the intent of the program is “to stimulate an emerging consumer and advertising market for the dotSucks platform.”