Mostly Duplicate Content for two different markets?

Will this get me banned from Google?

[Daithi123]

I run two websites for two different regions, with each region name being an important part of my key phrases.
I have read that duplicate content can get you barred from google - is this true?
If it is true, then what is to stop someone from duplicating the content of their main competitors to get them banned?

[tedster]

Not banned, in my experience. But only one version will show in any particular search results. A true ban would take out everything.

Are the regional kw searches returning your site?

[Daithi123]

Tedster,
Thanks for your reply.
I am not trying to compete on a generic, non-regional search.
My original website does reasonably well in it's region - e.g. 'widgets LocationA'. For my new site, I replaced 'LocationA' with 'LocationB' and after 3 months, I am not finding my new site on a search for 'widgets LocationB'. Since posting this note however, I have discovered that the problem may be to do with Session ID's which I introduced with the new site. I removed the session ID stuff yesterday, so I'll keep a watch over the next few months to see if that helps.

Daithi