Malawi protects works of foreign authors who reside in Malawi, works first published in Malawi, and in accordance with treaties Malawi is a party, subject to published notice by the Minister.

Qualifying foreign authors enjoy protection concerning performance rights and digital exploitation of the eligible works.

Malawi protects the rights of foreign performers and producers of phonograms in accordance with the treaties Malawi is a party, subject to published notice by the Minister).

Malawi also protects the rights of foreign performers if the performance takes place in Malawi, is fixed in a protected phonogram or is embodied in a protected broadcast (i.e., when the headquarters of the broadcasting organisation is in Malawi or transmitters are situated in Malawi). Phonograms are protected if the producer is a national or resident of Malawi, the first fixation was made in Malawi, and the phonogram was first published in Malawi.

Qualifying foreign performers and producers of phonograms enjoy protection concerning reproduction rights, performance rights and digital exploitation of their fixed performances and phonograms, respectively.

“National Treatment” refers to the assimilation of the treatment of foreign right holders to that of domestic right holders. It is a basic rule of most international conventions and mandates that foreign rights holders from contracting countries must receive the protection within any other contracting country as that country grants to its own nationals, ensuring equal rights under the scope of the relevant convention.

General national treatment obligations are set out in Article 5 of the Berne Convention and Article 2 of the Rome Convention, providing that the members of respective conventions must grant to each other’s nationals the rights provided in the convention. Berne Convention also extends the national treatment to “the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals,” while Rome Convention members are not obliged to extend national treatment to the rights of performers and producers of phonograms which are accorded under their national law over and above the rights enshrined in the Rome Convention.

The criteria for eligibility for protection are provided in Article 3 of the Berne Convention and Articles 4 and 5 of the Rome Convention. With regards to national treatment of producers of phonograms, members of the Rome Convention may reserve the right not to apply either the criterion of fixation or that of publication of the phonogram.

As per WIPO, the total number of members to the key treaties above is as follows:

Berne Convention: 181 Members
Rome Convention: 98 Members
WIPO Copyright Treaty: 118 Members
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty: 114 Members
TRIPS Agreement: 166 Members

This is a high-level overview concerning national treatment of music authors, performers and producers of phonograms; for comprehensive and detailed provisions, refer to the laws of each country. The overview:

1) details only the criteria applicable to foreign rights holders, without including the broader set of qualification rules for domestic protection that do not concern them,

2) is limited to performance rights and digital exploitation of recorded music, including works and other protected objects:

- “Performance rights” include radio and TV broadcasting, public performance, and communication to the public,

- “Digital exploitation” includes reproduction rights, distribution rights, communication to the public and making available rights.

The term "based on reciprocity" used in the overview for some countries means that Country A will protect the works of authors or other right holders who are nationals of Country B that is not a member of treaties Country A is a party to, and whose works or other protected objects were first published outside of Country A, only if Country B offer similar copyright protection to Country A’s authors or other rights holders and works and other protected objects respectively first published in Country A.

The term "treaty" in the overview includes conventions and international agreements.