Simply put, if icon A is designed to open program A, then it is fair use. After all, that is what the icon was designed for.
While your principle may be laudable, putting it into action would result in the need to remove the majority of dock icons. Dock icons are just facilitators - they open the program they were designed for, and that is all.
I cannot understand why when I uploaded my first animated icon with only "my credits" to the Ken Saunders artwork it was rejected because I needed a written permission
(AW that was the occasion to start a beautiful correspondence with him)
and now all this comprehension for a re-colored skin:
quote from "Skinning Icons" tutorial:
Very important: Recoloring or skinning icons does not change the original author's copyright, nor does it make such icons yours. If you recolor or skin an icon that has not been made by yourself you may not upload or share a recolored icon without the original author's permission.
