Designer Maria Cornejo told us firsthand back in April about how she and designers Jason Wu, Thakoon Panichgul and Narciso Rodriguez (a Michelle Obama dream team!) went to Washington, D.C. to lobby for anti-piracy laws for the fashion industry. Now it looks like their efforts might pay off!

The Design Piracy Prohibition Act (DPPA) is currently pending in the Senate and would offer designers a three-year copyright protection on designs that are successfully filed with the copyright office.

Designers in Europe currently enjoy up to 25 years of protection even without filing with the copyright office.

The DPPA has sparked some serious debate. The Council of the Fashion Designers of America, an invite-only group, strongly supports the DPPA and supported Cornejo and other designers on the April lobbying trip.

In the opposite corner, the larger American Apparel and Footwear Association (which represents some of the retailers that the law would affect) opposes it, Reuters reports.

Cornejo points out that "the law would encourage collaboration between the two sides of the clothing market. Under the DPPA, mass-market retailers would have to hire designers to consult, instead of copying," the source cites.

More surprising is that another one of Mrs. O's favorites, designer Isabel Toledo, is arguing against the DPPA.

Toledo is worried that the law could reduce the number of consumer options since now "the top (designers) can own the top and the bottom levels of the market," and that the law would hurt independent designers because it would subject them to expensive copyright lawsuits, Reuters cites.

Cornejo disagrees, saying the law would protect against copying that would hurt the designers' business.

Despite their differences on this issue, the two women remain longtime friends and mutually respectful colleagues.