This is not entirely correct.
Press release sites recently got devalued to the point that most are considered a spam source. Links from them will not help rank.
Any quality site can have duplicate content and rank without difficulty.
The "duplicate content" penalty everyone fears does not exist. If it did, there would be only one copy of everything on the Internet. The real threat of duplicate content is when the same content appears on the same site in more than one place, like /tags/author/categories in WordPress.
When people get hit with a "duplicate content penalty" for having a lot of duplicate content, it is really a low quality site penalty. If all your site has on it is duplicate content, it is a low quality site.
A high quality site with
some duplicate content on it will have no problem.
If you still do not believe me, search for this:
"When you visit our dental office, your smile is our top priority. Our entire team is dedicated to providing you with the personalized, quality dental care that you deserve."