Using Schema.org Review with copyrightHolder?

Question

I'm trying to implement correct properties of Schema.org, in video game reviews. It's not hard to understand the basics http://schema.org/Review, but some properties are a bit confuse (to me).

For example, a review about "Gran Turismo", of "Sony PlayStation", released in "1996", is correct to use properties of "Creative Work", this way:

<meta itemprop="copyrightHolder" content="Sony" />
<meta itemprop="copyrightYear" content="1996" />

Or do this is it related to the review itself, so I should use the review's author name and publication date? If yes, what's the right properties to those info (if needed)?

Answer 1

When reviewing a video game, there are two CreativeWorks (resp. more specific types) involved:

• the video game
• the review

The properties copyrightYear and copyrightHolder refer to the nearest parent CreativeWork. You have to make sure not to mix them: it’s all about the correct nesting.

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork">
  <!-- this is *your* CreativeWork, i.e., the review -->
  <div itemprop="itemReviewed" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork">
    <!-- this is *not your* CreativeWork, i.e., the video game -->
  </div>
  <!-- this is, again, *your* CreativeWork -->
</div>

(Note that I’ve used the general CreativeWork type in this example; you should of course use more specific types if available, e.g., http://schema.org/Review for the review).

Answer 2

Daniel, you should use the review schema as your primary schema, then nest the others such as creative work within it. The review schema should include the item, the author's name, date of the review, and of course the actual review body and rating markups. But it really is not necessary to use the copyright item properties. You can simply leave those tags out if you wish.