very true, a lot of textures for mods are made from vanilla textures, or externally to the mod dev, but if someone made it for the mod, they cant sue the mod devs XD
something interesting came out of minecon on this matter in this video
at 12:40 jeb says that mod devs DO have copyright over their images, sounds and code (models etc). just thought i'd mention this as it basically invalidates everything technic have ever said...