How figure skating and copyright law became 'despicable' opponents, and the Canadian pair caught in middle

Chris Jones reports from Milan.

The Minions will have their moment in Milan after all.

The figure skating world has been embroiled in an unusual kind of controversy: Copyright law has suddenly become part of an increasingly complicated artistic equation.

The plight of Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate, a Spanish skater who has performed a popular Minions-themed program to a medley of four “Despicable Me” songs all season, gained widespread attention last week when he went public with his fears that he wouldn’t receive permission to use the music at the Winter Olympics in time.

Perhaps because of mounting pressure from skating and Minions fans around the world, Sabate received his final clearance, for a cut from the Pharrell Williams song “Freedom,” on Friday.

On Saturday, he went through his rescued routine at a practice facility near the Milano Ice Skating Arena. He wasn’t wearing his signature yellow shirt and blue overalls, but as soon as the unmistakable laughter of Minions rang out, Sabate began tearing around the ice, as though set free by his relief.

“It all worked out like we wanted,” he said after. “I’m happy about it. My coach is happy. I guess all the public that fought for it is happy. At the end, everybody’s happy.”

Everybody’s still a little nervous, too.

In October 2014, to modernize the sport and appeal to younger audiences, figure skating authorities began allowing singles and pairs skaters — previously limited to instrumental music that was often ancient and in the public domain — to use songs with lyrics for the first time.

That decision led to a revolution in on-ice performance but also an unintended off-ice consequence: Musicians began objecting to the royalty-free use of their own art, especially