But just two months later, Chokri and O'Donoghue issued their own claim for "copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement".
The battle has now come to the High Court.
Chokri and O'Donoghue's lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe told the courts Sheeran was "undeniably talented".
"He is a genius. But he is also a magpie. He borrows ideas and throws them into songs.
"Sometimes he acknowledges this. And sometimes he doesn't."
The pop star appeared upset by this and was seen writing a note which was passed to his legal team.
Sutcliffe pointed out that while Sheeran was well-known and had won "many awards", his opponents were not.
"If they were, this would have been treated very differently."
Royalties on Sheeran's best-selling single were frozen after the claims were first made, meaning he has likely missed out on millions since the ruling in 2018.
The current court hearing will last for three weeks, with Sheeran set to give evidence over the next couple of days.
It's expected that the parties involved will "incur costs in the region of £3 million (NZ$5.7m) between them on this dispute", according to a ruling from Judge Francesca Kaye in 2020.
Sheeran previously settled a copyright infringement claim against him in the US in 2017.
Songwriters Thomas Leonard and Martin Harrington claimed his song Photograph had a similar structure to their song Amazing.
The case was settled for more than £4m (NZ$7.7m), according to court documents released yesterday.
