It is a real coin, but it is in a lot of trouble right now.  The original developer has not been able to deliver key promised functionality and has been very poor at communicating.  The community has lost confidence that he will be able to deliver and a new group is trying to take control and lead this coin forward in a better direction.  It remains to be seen if they succeed, but I believe they are sincere.  Right now, Libertycoin is a very speculative investment, so I'd be hesitant to invest a lot of new money in it.  If you want to invest a small amount on the chance that things improve, go right ahead.  You can get a lot of coins cheap right now.