Well if you are going to duplicate someones article they deserve the credit. I would recommend combining two or three article sand adding some personal value to it. Create something unique that your audience will like. Also linking to a reputable source shows Google that you are relevant to something. If you run an SEOmoz report card they recommend an external link to a relavent source.

One of my listings says it has been closed and the business is not closed. On Google + / Google places there is a field that allows users to check that claims the business is closed. Can they actually close it?

Dear Google Places user,

Google has updated your listing data on our consumer properties such as Google and Google Maps to more accurately reflect the latest information we have about your business.

We use many sources to determine the accuracy of our listing data and to provide the best possible experience for business owners and consumers who use Google and Google Maps to find local information.

Based on our sources, the following listing has been marked as closed:

Company info...

If you disagree with the changes we have made, please visit your Place Page to edit your listing.

Note that if you are an AdWords or Boost customer, your ads will be unaffected by this change and will continue to display the listing information you have provided in Google Places. To manage your online advertisements, please sign into Google Places or Google AdWords.

For more information about updates to claimed listings, please visit:http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1318197

Sincerely,
The Google Places Team

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You must trackback(link back) to the original content. Otherwise Google looks at your content as duplicate. As as you give the original content credit you can avoid duplicate content.

However If you don't want this content to appear in your sites index but you do want it to appear on your site for your users do: noindex, follow -

Or you could use a rel=canonical tag and call out the original post as the canonical post.

We ave a prospect client that wants to start doing SEO for his Shopify site, we are unsure if this will be SEO friendly. Will we have enough control to get great placement? Are we better off rebuilding the site for the client in an OpenCart?

Ok this is my plan... Tell me what you think, I'm going to google each of the directories brand nanes I submitted to off of seomoz, and if any of them are not ranking #1 in google for their brand names I will request a link removal... Should that suffice?

Ahh man just submitted to a handful of them...

What about the directories that are recommended by SEOmoz? Are these good directories?

SEOmoz recommends a bunch of directories and some cost money. How much influence do these directories have? Is it worth investing in some where the category makes sense or all where the category makes sense?