Watch out on the politics between mod author permission, FTB, and Tekkit. Again, this thread is more about the mods and their inclusion/exclusion of different packs and going off on a tangent that could devolve into a circlejerk and/or flame war is just going to get us locked.
As for the trees issue, I would quite frankly love it if there were a mod that gives an item that lets you literally fell trees - Trees falling over when broken by a certain item (A Logger's Axe or something of that ilk) would be fantastic and not as overpowered as, say, the insta-chop Treecapitator. Unfortunately, nobody's written this.
That's largely because everyone wants to cry about IP rights and who is entitled to what but nobody has the bawls to hire a lawyer, which makes all the crying largely moot.
My 2 cents:
The biggest issue is that all mods basically use parts of minecraft. You can't claim copyright on a mod unless you license the right to use the stuff from Notch.
Basically, modding communities tend to spring up around games. The modders benefit from a game they can plug their stuff into, the game benefits from the mods because it makes the game more fun and grows the playerbase. So although modders often in the truest sense of the word cross the line when it comes to copyright, the game developers don't bother trying to sue them because they simply would shoot themselves in the foot.
However, modders crying about copyright are doing exactly that: they claim stuff they don't have. The way some of the modders reacted to Technic and also how the flamers from the MC forums joined that drama is pretty unique in the 'modding' world. The issue is that Notch made craptons of money on Minecraft and modders want a piece of that pie. So don't think this is some kind of principal matter, they got all upset simply because they started making less money on something that wasn't really theirs to begin with.
FTB came along and now they can't pretend anymore it's an issue about principles. FTB does exactly the same as Technic does. However, Technic started out just as a convenience for server players that kinda exploded. Just like normal server owners didn't ask permission to distribute a zip with all the mods they were using (why would you, it's a mod, you're not infringing anyone's copyright by mirroring something they make available themselves) the Technic server team didn't ask permissions for their server either. But this pack simply exploded in how popular it because. FTB had the benefit of knowing not to make this mistake.
Last but not least: copyright laws are different all over the world. It is WAY too complex to claim copyright on a game mod by a single modder. They simply can't. So I don't understand why some try instead of just saying it's open source and ask for donations. Here in Europe you don't have to defend your copyright like you're saying, but you also can't simply claim copyright on a game mod that uses game assets.
My little server family tried Tekkit Lite for a few days before moving to FTB. A lot of the mods in Tekkit Lite feel really alpha-y.
Case in point, the mineFactory RL mod has changed hands several times and all the documentation I could find online showed the recipes as being created one way but NEI showing them being made another way. They also seemed to be powered differently once I had them built so I could actually get any of that stuff working. I'm sure it all works but I have no idea how to make it work and the online docs are out of date.
The mod we miss most is Treecapitator. I thought Forestry had something like that where you chop a tree (with an axe) and all the wood/leaf blocks above are destroyed. So handy.
Redpower 2's Sickle will destroy leaves like nobody's business.
Thaumcraft 3 has Rod of Equal Trade that can be used to chop trees too.indeed it is, my friend. I believe Thaumcraft has the Axe of the Stream, not sure if it actually has it yet or not. But it's a very nice tool.
Basically, it works out like this.
Technic is foolhardy, and not afraid to take risks. This results in innovation, and cool new features and such, but cutting edge usually means someone gets cut.