As Tom said in another post the spells created now will be available. I'm guessing we won't know them at the start, with the possible exception of a few simple ones, but they're going to be in the game. He said there would be some advantage to be the creator.
Spells can be learned, but you have to learn them from someone. At a guess simple spells will probably be more or less learn able by anyone, maybe at a higher cost if noone teaches you, while more complex ones will likely be one off spells. You can invent it, but if I want to learn it I have to beg, borrow or steal your works.
Rituals follow much less rigid structures. You pick your base and intent, as well as effect, and start performing it either alone or with help. If you pick decent costs for it the GM's will just let you continue, but if you decide that you can create the Sword of Instant Death(tm) in 5 minutes without expending any resources they'll just slap you with a "Didn't happen, try again with this cost..." or some spectacular failure.
The rest I dunno. I'm guessing no duplicate spells, but they might let it slide if it happens simultaneously.
One of the greatest benefits of Councils is just that, sharing spells. Depending on the council in question all spells might be held in common, they might be divided into ranks, they might require you to have rare spells to join etc. Council politics really are half the fun of the game IMO, can't have spellcasters without some intrigue and fun.
