Q: Is there a problem with duplicate content?
A: Not that big of a deal really. Many order the directory submission package giving only one description.
Those with just ONE description see SERP increases just as well as those with multiple descriptions do. They may not see as much of a jump as the second option, but they will both see increase in rankings 100%.
Why? Because we have a VERY diverse list of directories. So your links will be on a lot of different websites rangeing from custom made scripts to standards like esyndicat, indexu and phpld.
Furthermore even these, In itself are not only different in design, but in categories too. And each of these directories has a different set of links in a particular category (where your link is).
So when google looks at such a page it will always be different. Your description may be the same, but there will be other links in that category with different descriptions... So when google looks at such a page AS A WHOLE, it will be very different from another. Thus for this reason submitting a website with only one description is very different (and much better and safer) than submitting a duplicate article on article directories and/or a blog of networks.