Does CM Punk Get To Keep His Name?

I remember reading that after Bruno Sammartino left WWE, he wasn't allowed to appear under his own name at shows staged by other professional wrestling promotions. I don't know if it was true or not, but it puts the Punk situation to shame since it was Bruno's real name he wasn't allowed to use. Can you imagine?

When WWE was negotiating with Punk, ownership of his ring name was probably something they agreed to give up. After all, it makes no real difference to them since they weren't going to call another wrestler "C.M. Punk" in the future, were they? As long as they have the right to showed archived footage of him and to use his name in printed material, I would think they agreed to give up the trademarked rights to his name. Seems like a small price to pay to keep Punk as an attraction.