411.309 (1) (d). “Goods” also includes the unborn young of animals. “Goods” does not include money, documents, instruments, accounts, chattel paper or general intangibles and does not include minerals or the like, including oil and gas, before extraction. (i) “Installment lease contract” means a lease contract that authorizes or requires the delivery of goods in separate lots to be separately accepted, even though the lease contract contains a clause stating “each delivery is a separate lease” or its equivalent. (j) “Lease” means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or a retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “lease” includes a sublease. (k) “Lease agreement” means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of
Updated 23-24 Wis. Stats.
2
dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this chapter. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “lease agreement” includes a sublease agreement. (L) “Lease contract” means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this chapter and any other applicable rules of law. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “lease contract” includes a sublease contract. (m) “Leasehold interest” means the interest of the lessor or the lessee under a lease contract. (n) “Lessee” means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “lessee” includes a sublessee. (o) “Lessee in ordinary course of business” means a person who in good faith and without knowledge that the lease to him or her is in violation of the ownership rights or security interest or leasehold interest of a 3rd party in the goods leases in ordinary course from a person in the business of selling or leasing goods of that kind but does not include a pawnbroker. “Leasing” may be for cash or by exchange of other property or on secured or unsecured credit and includes acquiring goods or documents of title under a preexisting lease contract but does not include a transfer in bulk or as security for or in total or partial satisfaction of a money debt. (p) “Lessor” means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, “lessor” includes a sublessor. (q) “Lessor’s residual interest” means the lessor’s interest in the goods after expiration, termination or cancellation of the lease contract. (r) “Lien” means a charge against or interest in goods to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation. “Lien” does not include a security interest. (s) “Lot” means a parcel or a single article that is the subject matter of a separate lease or delivery, whether or not it is sufficient to perform the lease contract. (t) “Merchant lessee” means a lessee that is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind subject to the lease. (u) “Present value” means the amount, as of a date certain, of one or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. The discount is determined by the interest rate specified by the parties if the rate was not manifestly unreasonable when the transaction was entered into; otherwise, the discount is determined by a commercially reasonable rate that takes into account the facts and circumstances of each case when the transaction was entered into. (v) “Purchase” includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. (w) “Sublease” means a lease of goods the right to possession and use of which was acquired by the lessor as a lessee under an existing lease. (x) “Supplier” means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. (y) “Supply contract” means a contract under which a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased. (z) “Termination” occurs when either party pursuant to a power created by agreement or law puts an end to the lease contract otherwise than for default. (2) Other definitions applying to this chapter and the sections in which they appear are: (a) “Accessions” — s. 411.310 (1). (b) “Construction mortgage” — s. 411.309 (1) (a). (c) “Encumbrance” — s. 411.309 (1) (b). (d) “Fixture filing” — s. 411.309 (1) (c).
May 22, 2026, are designated by NOTES. (Published 5-22-26)
3
Updated 23-24 Wis. Stats.
(e) “Fixtures” — s. 411.309 (1) (d). (f) “Purchase money lease” — s. 411.309 (1) (e). (3) The following definitions in other chapters apply to this chapter: (a) “Account” — s. 409.102 (1) (ag). (b) “Between merchants” — s. 402.104 (1). (c) “Buyer” — s. 402.103 (1) (a). (d) “Chattel paper” — s. 409.102 (1) (cm). (e) “Consumer goods” — s. 409.102 (1) (fm). (f) “Document” — s. 409.102 (1) (hg). (g) “Entrusting” — s. 402.403 (3). (h) “General intangible” — s. 409.102 (1) (kg). (i) “Good faith” — s. 402.103 (1) (b). (j) “Instrument” — s. 409.102 (1) (Lm). (k) “Merchant” — s. 402.104 (3). (L) “Mortgage” — s. 409.102 (1) (nm). (m) “Pursuant to commitment” — s. 409.102 (1) (qs). (n) “Receipt” — s. 402.103 (1) (c). (o) “Sale” — s. 402.106 (6). (p) “Sale on approval” — s. 402.326 (1) (a). (q) “Sale or return” — s. 402.326 (1) (b). (r) “Seller” — s. 402.103 (1) (d). (4) In addition, ch. 401 contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this chapter. History: 1991 a. 148; 2001 a. 10; 2009 a. 322.