Duplicate Content Issues (International SEO - Multiple ccTLD's)

Hi All

This is my first post. I am currently struggling to understand the effects of duplicated content on multiple ccTLD's. I currently look after a Global help desk software provider that is, according to Forbes, the 3rd largest company in the world of its type. My current area of responsibility is for the .co.uk, .com.au, .fr and .de sites.

All English language sites have the same content, which coincidently is owned by the companies Legal dept who I have not yet been granted access to. My only scope, at present, is to suggest changes effecting Meta, H1-H6 tags and link building.

For a company of this size and relevance to its primary search term "Help Desk Software" there is no organic visibility for the .co.uk site. SERP's haverecently jumped massively on the .com.au and the French and German sites do well for their respective translations.

General Information: Please let me know if I need to supply any more
.co.uk Registered on: 25-Oct-2005
.co.uk site is Hosted on US Servers
Site Copy on co.uk is almost exactly the same as .com and .com.au sites
Site:#######.co.uk Google query yields 194 results
Site:#######.com Google query yields 954 results
Site:#######.com.au Google query yields 54 results

My problem therefore is the .co.uk site. If I search "help desk software uk" in Google UK (World-Wide) the site ranks 4th, "help desk software" is currently 99th.

What does this mean to an SEO'er?
Why does localisation in the search query bring the site but generic non-localised search not?
Why is one of the Largest companies in the the world of its type not present in SERP's even though content is good?
Why has .com.au recently ranked highly in Google AU (World-Wide) (up 52 places to first page and stable) even though content is effectively duplicate?

As I am unable, at present, to change the site copy, I need to understand more about this issue so that I can influence my contacts to pressure the Legal department to action new copy. I am very confused by this and I would be very appreciateive of you support. My client will argue that duplicate content is not being penalised because Australia is doing well and that pages are PageRank4 and all indexed.

I look forward to speaking to you soon and hope you can help.

Kind regards
Resh

Bit bitchy: A company so important it uses a Legal department to issue web copy and ties its employees hands, should surely have contacted a SEO consultancy firm no? Have a professional look at it, with full access to stats. Else there is nothing left to analyze (btw: is your company a wordplay on a number?)

But I'll give it a try. It could be one of many things.
Is the co.uk localised?
- Is the geographic location set in Google Webmaster Tools?
- Is there a (Google) local business listing for a UK division of the company?
- Is there a local UK address listed on the site?
- Does the co.uk have enough local links (from other UK sites)?
- Is the site localized in content and is the product "worldwide" or "local/by country"?

With "help desk software" I don't think the location is relevant, certainly if the content/language is exactly the same. Now maybe if you add a picture of a Big Ben to the homepage, but that might give your legal department a headache, let alone your contacts

I don't think duplicate content is appreciated in SEO, you might get sand boxed for duplicating the content!