It would be convenient if there was a way to duplicate a homebrew spell or use them as a template for creating new spells. Maybe there is a means of doing this that I am unaware of?

Not yet.  See discussion here. 

 That's not 100% relevant. As the magic items are referencing spells, the homebrew spell is an entity on its own accord entirely. No spells have to reference other spells. I just want to create a set of similar spells without having to create them from scratch, even being able to duplicate an existing object in the homebrew area would help (as then editing it would be easy)

I thought I remembered someone in that thread asking this. . . 

It might have, but from what I gathered (admittedly skimming), the problem with items and homebrew spells is that if a homebrewed: Wand of Worry casts the homebrew spell Worry then there is a chance a free account would have the item, which would then basically have a reference to an invalid spell (as they don't have access to the spell). Spells have no real chance of this being an issue, as they don't really reference other spells within them. 

There is the complication of people trying to recreate copywrite spells, but that should be handled by the approval system as normal.

It also seemed odd to me, because the Prayer Beads is an official item that already has this "problem" in the fact it has brandishing smite, which is a Copyright protected spell.

Quote from Thain >>

It also seemed odd to me, because the Prayer Beads is an official item that already has this "problem" in the fact it has brandishing smite, which is a Copyright protected spell.