Passing around a spreadsheet based on a formula presented in an article may violate HMEM's policies, but it does not violate copyright laws in the U.S. Copyright only applies to an expression of an idea, not to the idea itself. You can read this at the US government website:
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#protect
Copyright law exists not only to provide benefits to authors, but also to society. One of the benefits to society is to allow ideas to get into common use. And making a spreadsheet based on a formula allows common use.
If copyright law applied to formulas, nobody could ever write a scientific paper based on a formula found in somebody else's paper, because it would qualify as a derivative work. If we want to stand on the shoulders of giants, we need to be able to use the work of those giants.
Again, as I said earlier, if HMEM wants to prevent sharing a spreadsheet based on Trimble's formula as shared in SIC, that is within their rights as the owners of the forum. But it is not required by copyright law.
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